Is There A Market Without Death?

I don’t mean to dramatize the title of this post. But, I truly want to ask the question – is there such a thing as a world where business can be free of greed and corruption? Or, another way to ask would be, is the marketplace inherently flawed. Does a system of trade involving currency or bartering ever  make sense in a perfect world?

The implications involved in the question are tremendous. Everyday, people work. Whether or not we answer the question, leads us to answer closer questions, with larger and larger implications to our daily lives.

During the Sermon On The Mount (found in Matthew 5-7), Jesus teaches everything from the characteristics of the blessed (beatitudes) to the characteristics of the false (7:15). But does He teach about the marketplace?

For me, this is a personal issue. Two weeks has passed since I was offered a business opportunity I’ve never experienced or expected. To be a manager in a small company, to sell services, to convince clients of value and ultimately, to provide for my family’s needs through the marketplace. I admit that I’m afraid in many ways. How can I live righteously while spending so much time and effort in the marketplace? Yet, the goal I have in mind is to strip away the fears in order to find what God truly said about being in the marketplace. Or, if all else fails, what are the clues.

The Bible deals with the heart. It could be said that the Bible is a textbook to life. Yet, I think that summary falls short. The Bible is more of a narrative, a story, of what’s happened, what’s going to happen and what to do about it now.

Reading the Bible with a specific question like the one I now have before me is often frustrating. Why didn’t Jesus give us specific instructions? Why did he speak in parables, almost as if by intention to confuse the issues? His teaching’s often leave me bewildered since the issues He did teach directly about are issues that are 2,000 years old. How am I supposed to find relevant direction from it today?

In order to explain, I’ll use a parable myself.

My life is like a garden. At a casual glance there are the plants, flowers, vegetables and trees. But, what’s beneath? Anyone who has ever grown anything knows that the source of a garden is the soil, not the plant. How true this is of the human life.

According to the condition of the soil of my garden, or the condition of my attitude and motivation, is what the quality of plant life, or the righteousness of my life, will be. Growing upward from my life is plant life that depends upon the soil from which it grows.

As I reach out to the Bible, the Bible is digging, watering and filling me with vital nutrients. Jesus is an experienced gardener. He knows how to adjust pH levels, add nitrogen to plants, trim branches and all the rest. He’s a perfect keeper, faithfully attending to every need of the plants on a daily basis.

In the same way, He knows the motivation and condition of my life. He’s mastered the ability to lead me correctly. Unlike a garden, He waits for me to open the gate of the garden before He can begin His work. Like a garden, everyday is a new day, necessitating more work to keep weeds and other destructive issues from happening in the garden. I need his redeeming work on a daily basis.

Now, I have my answer to the question before me.

The marketplace is an entity sitting on the surface of my garden. As I try to diagnose the conditions of the plants, I should consider that the source of life ultimately derives from the soil. That’s where the Bible is interested in treating.

Why do I feel like I’m not getting direct answers? I’m trying to treat leaves instead of soil, fruit instead of root.

The 8-Point Christ Constitution

Jesus calls us…

To be poor in spirit 

To mourn spiritually

To walk in humility

To hunger for righteousness

To show mercy

To embrace purity

To be a peacemaker

To endure persecution

- – -

These 8 attributes are invaluable. We needn’t aim in the dark when it comes to knowing how to please God. We have a clear target for what God wants in our lives through these points. Working in these will give us confidence for what God wants for us in our lives. 

From Matthew 5:3-10

Android: Strategy For User-Purity

Android: Covenant Eyes for Android monitors what's browsed on the stock "Browser" App. But, it doesn't monitor what's browsed on any other downloaded browser - Google Chrome, for example.

Late this Summer, my company supplied me with an Android Smartphone. As Editor, I needed fast email connectivity and the ability to monitor different websites on demand, on the go.

My old phone wasn’t going to cut it.

So, I was supplied with my Android phone. I many ways, I feel Android phones aren’t quite as fluid or thoroughly arranged as iPhones.

Why is this important?

I am a huge advocate of the Covenant Eyes purity software program. I pay them under $90/year to monitor my Internet activity on my laptop and cell phone and send a detailed report to my wife. It’s not only a helpful tool personally, but an essential way to grow deeper in my relationship with my wife. I’m honored that she is willing to hold me accountable to purity. Our world today is absolutely infested with sexual immorality.

(Shock: 1 in 8 Internet searches are for pornographic material)

Unfortunately, I’ve come across a problem with my Android phone. CE monitors what’s browsed on the stock “Browser” Android App. But, it doesn’t monitor what’s browsed on any other downloaded browser – Google Chrome, for example. My report will say that I downloaded and used Chrome, but it doesn’t say what I viewed online.

This is a problem because in a moment where temptation flares, I am given the opportunity to download a browser like Chrome in order to view pornographic material unnoticed.

My philosophy is to cut off every avenue that leads to the ability to view any pornographic material. So, in order to find a solution, I tweeted CE (@covenanteyes) with this question.

They suggested I download a free “App Locker” App. They give you a password protected means to lock any app on your phone. I downloaded one called “Smart App Protector” and asked my wife to lock the “Market” app with her password. That way, I am unable to download another browser app. Therefore I’ve shut the door to potential temptation from other Apps.

I use the following Apps currently:

• Bible
• Flashlight
• Maps
• Voice Memo
• Google Docs
• Google Calendar
• Places
• QR Droid
• Email
• USA Today
• Camera
• Browser
• Music
• Craigslist
• Stopwatch
• Gmail
• Drudge Report
• YouTube
• Gallery
• Pandora
• Massaging
• Weather Bug

- – -

³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

If your cell phone, laptop, iPad, iTouch, Kindle, tablet or other online capable system is causing you to sin, buy purity software, or throw it away.

“..some clarity and realism in our political discourse.”

In particular, the present rule of the ascended Jesus Christ and the assurance of his final appearing in judgment should give us – which goodness knows we need today – some clarity and realism in our political discourse. Far too often Christians slide into a vaguely spiritualized version of one or other major political system or party. What would happen if we were to take seriously our stated belief that Jesus Christ is already the Lord of the world, and that at his name, one day, every knee would bow?

You might suppose that this would inject merely a note of pietism, and make us then avoid the real issues – or, indeed, to attempt a theocratic take-over bid. But to think in either of those ways would only show how deeply we have been conditioned by the Enlightenment split between religion and politics. What happens if we reintegrate them? As with specifically Christian work, so with political work done in Jesus’ name: confessing Jesus as the ascended and coming Lord frees up the political task from the necessity to pretend that this or that programme or leader has the key to Utopia (if only we would elect him or her). Equally, it frees up our corporate life from the despair that comes when we realize that, once again, our political systems let us down.

–N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope

Thinking Of The Resurrection, The Restoration Of All Things

If you start to think on the beauty and wonder of a total and complete restoration of the Earth – the biblical resurrection and where we are heading – you start to live in accordance to the will of God. You start to desire the healing that comes from Jesus’ kingship and government.

We can vote, hoping for the best, that our candidates will work for justice, mercy and good governance. But the truth is that every king on Earth is going to die, and their rule will come to nothing that God doesn’t already guide. Every ruler on Earth, the prime ministers, the governors, the presidents and the rest are subjected to the true King, Jesus Christ.

God placed Jesus over the nations, so that they are his stool beneath his feet. “Therefore, you kings (everyone in governmental authority), be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Psalm 2)

Have we been teaching and acting upon the restoration of all things in Christ? Is it our hope in this life? Have we been teaching the real story? Jesus is the real king. Are we entrusting ourselves to our Faithful creator during these trying times? We should be.

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15)

The real reward, the real peace, the real assurance, is that you will meet your maker one day soon. Dwell on that. Let it change your heart.

“Christ is all.” Why a 22-year old adopted 14 Ugandan orphans.

Katie has adopted 14 Ugandan girls.

I recently finished up a discipleship course focusing on Jesus’ call to follow him. Jesus’ basic call to anyone who would follow after him demands everything from us:

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26–27)

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23–24)

During this discipleship class, I was introduced to a young woman who obeyed Jesus and “quit her life” (as she put it) and followed him.

Katie grew up in America with all its comforts: a loving family, high school homecoming queen, class president, a bright future in college, a boyfriend. She had it all. But then she heard the call of Jesus, left what she had, and followed him.

She wanted to do a year long mission trip before college so she went to Uganda to serve as a teacher. While there she saw the desperate needs of the poor, starving orphans and adopted 14 of them (yes 14!). Now she lives in Uganda as a single, 22-year old mother of over a dozen kids and runs a ministry called Amazima to help other poor children there.

Here’s a short video that profiles her work there:

David Platt also recently interviewed Katie about her calling in Uganda.

May we follow Katie as she follows Christ. The fuel that will finally drive us to leave it all and follow Jesus is not overwhelming stat after overwhelming stat of the great needs in this world. Those are helpful, but what will finally fuel us to forsake all and follow Jesus is the glorious vision of an overwhelmingly satisfying Christ — a Christ who himself is all in all.

Joseph Randall is the pastor of Olney Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA.

[Via Desiring God http://bit.ly/xSfGj7]

The Imagination of Conan Doyle and Jesus’ Authorship

Point #1

Reading a good story is more tantalizing and sensually pleasing than watching a good movie.

Point #2

The human imagination was engineered by God for incredible imagery and adventure.

Point #3

I can hardly contain myself thinking of what kind of adventures await those who are in Jesus Christ in the coming age. Not the adventure of a harpist on a cloud of contemplation.

I’m talking about the kind of adventure where the thrill sends shoots of electrifying charges down the spine by the mere thought of it. Have you ever planned a backpacking trip through the Rocky Mountains? A Europe Tour through Spain, France, Italy and Germany? A tour of the British Isles of Scotland, Ireland and Wales? A snowboarding adventure in the Swiss Alps or a Surfing trip to Bali in Indonesia? A forest trek through the Amazon? Scuba diving in one of the dazzling coral reefs of Fiji? A motorcycle tour of Argentina and its wine regions?

That type of adventure.

- – -

My father-in-law is a great guy. John Shannon Steelman, also known as “Shan the Man” has become a real father to me. He has a true father’s heart and I’m proud that I’ve married into a family like his. I call him my friend and brother in Christ.

This Christmas, he purchased a book for me of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. I was ecstatic with the gift having never read any of these stories and knowing the fame contained in its covers – one of the singularly famous of any fictional literature characters before or after.

Sherlock Holmes, the brain-child of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is quite a man.

I just finished reading my first complete story – “A Study In Scarlet”, the story of two murders, the man behind the killing and the method in which London’s most famous detective is able to bring it all to clarity. Sherlock Holmes gives his first impression to his soon-to-be faithful companion, Dr. Watson, of his brilliant analytical genius in this first chronological short story of the Sherlock Holmes mystery series.

I could describe the story but I’ll leave it and say that Conan Doyle writes with a keenness, wit and concise precision which left me wanting more.

The real impression I was left with was the imagination behind the story.

We are human beings, each with a vast great ocean of strong feelings, motivations and driving temperaments that move us in directions that often astound others in the wake. Why do we climb Mt. Everest or build a spaceship to the moon?

We can endure trials, achieve monumental acts of strength and endurance and build incredible stories along the way.

Conan Doyle wrote this mystery with elements of the human heart that left my imagination spinning.

I can’t help but be reminded of the way in which Jesus authored our humanness. The total package of the soul, the mind and the body coupled with the struggle overarching throughout human history for peace and fulfillment can be illustrated in stories like these.

Despite never mentioning it directly, I am only driven more to the desire for the total restoration of all things in Christ at the end of this age by reading this story of love, perseverance and revenge.

The calmness of a good read in a single sitting, pouring my imagination into a story like the “Study In Scarlet” was much more satisfying than watching the greatest film.

Know a Christian Who Seems to Love Movies More Than Jesus? (by John Piper)

By John Piper

from DesiringGod.org

What should you do if you know someone who seems to be more excited about movies than Jesus?

Many professing Christians give little evidence of valuing Jesus more than the latest movie they have seen. Or the latest clothing they bought. Or the latest app they downloaded. Or the latest game they watched. Something is amiss.

We are not God and cannot judge with certainty and precision what’s wrong. There is a glitch somewhere. Perhaps a blindness going in, a spiritual deadness at heart, or a blockage coming out. Or some combination. Christ doesn’t appear supremely valuable. Or isn’t felt as supremely valuable. Or can’t be spoken of as supremely valuable. Or some combination.

Here’s my suggestion. Instead of dampening their enthusiasm for movies, clothing, apps, and events, let that go as an expression of God-given personality. Instead, model expressive joy in Jesus. Over time, if there is no resonance from their heart with your joy, query them humbly:

I love your enthusiasm for the things you get excited about. You’re so free and expressive about good movies and nice clothes and cool apps. It seems odd to me that you don’t seem to be as expressive about the way you feel about Jesus and what he’s done for us. Have you thought about why that might be?

The point of this query is to help them see that the problem is not joyfully loving good created things. The problem is the apparent absence of similar affections for Christ.

If similar affections for Jesus are not possible, then the specter of idolatry becomes serious. But they may sense this themselves without your having to start with that indictment, if you draw their attention not to the excitement that’s there, but to what’s missing.

We don’t want them to lose their exuberance about anything good. We want Christ to be supreme in their hearts so that all their exuberance comes under him and for his sake. When Jesus is felt as supremely valuable in our hearts, all other values gradually become properly ordered and purified.

May the Lord give you great courage and wisdom as you help people awaken to the supreme value of Jesus.

History of Time: Biblical Timeline (..ongoing)

Bible Book Timeline (via Hebrew Canon)

1. (? b.c.) Creation (Genesis 1)
2. Garden of Eve (Genesis 3)
3. Fall from Garden (Genesis 3)
4. Murder of Abel by Cain (Genesis 4)
5. Crying out to Lord (Birth of Seth) (Genesis 4)
6. Adam to Noah Genealogy & Increase on Earth (Genesis 5)
7. Mass Increase of wickedness (Genesis 6)
8. Noah and the Global Flood (Genesis 6-8)
9. The Three Sons of Noah & Genealogy following (Genesis 10)
10. The Tower of Babel & The Division of Men’s Languages (Genesis 11)
11. From Shem to Abraham (Genesis 11)
12. The Life & Covenant of Abraham (Genesis 12-25)
13. The destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah and Lot’s Salvation (Genesis 18-20 )
14. The Life of Isaac (Genesis 24-35)
15. The Life of Jacob & Esau (24-49)
16. The Life of Joseph (37 – 50)
17. (Scope of Exodus: 1876 B.C. - 1445 B.C.) Israel’s Oppression & Deliverance in Egypt (Exodus 1-14)
18. The Free Nation of Israel In the Wilderness (Exodus 15-40)
19. Free Israel at Mount Sinai, Law Given , 10 Commandments, Tabernacle, Rebellion of Israel w/ Golden Calf, Tent of Meeting, Glory Cloud (Exodus 20-40)

 

A Perfectly Normal Conversation (In sign language) Between Mommy and 24 Month Old

Watch this powerful video…